I wrote this over a year ago and just… never got around to posting it. Well, here it is now before I chicken out again. Like always, I love hearing from you guys!
It was late, so late, and Elisabeth was both bored and exhausted. Leaning against the counter, she read through the patient notes on her plex halfheartedly. She still had half of her shift left, and almost as long till sunrise. While she didn't exactly enjoy working nights, she didn't usually mind. However, with no new traumas and having checked up on the admitted patients, she now had nothing pressing to do. At least during the day if she found herself idle, there was almost always a scheduled surgery she could go observe.
Drumming her fingers against the table, Elisabeth signed her latest dictations. She tried to recall if she had any paperwork left to finish – something that would occupy her for the next hour before they'd need to draw new labs from the scientist who was being given an antidote for toxic pollen he'd been exposed to while OTG.
"Elisabeth."
An automatic smile rose to Elisabeth's lips as she turned around. Even if she hadn't recognized the voice, being called by her first name would have given her a clue about the visitor's identity.
"Hey." The usual flicker of worry sparked in her stomach as she carefully eyed Alicia from head to toe; they met too often in a professional capacity. "Everything all right?"
"Yeah", Alicia assured. "I'm on my way to the gate for watch duty, but I was wondering if you had time for a quick coffee before that."
Elisabeth threw a look around the room. Satisfied by the fact that no one was running towards her with a new crisis, she supposed she could take a small break. "Sounds lovely."
Having visited the infirmary enough times to know where the break room was, Alicia started towards it with a pleased expression. Elisabeth locked her plex and pocketed it before hurrying after her. She notified Nurse Thompson about where she was going as they passed him, but he simply waved her off, motioning to his pager. Elisabeth admitted he was right; as long as she was reachable, no one really needed to know where she was at any given moment. She had just yet to shed the habits she'd formed in the 22nd century when healthcare personnel were overworked to the point of some disappearing mid-shift.
Since Elisabeth had settled on following after Alicia, trusting her to know the way, she was confused to be led into a dark room. Had she paid attention, she would probably have known where they were, but as it was, she looked around in confusion for a couple of seconds before the automatic lights went on.
They were in a linen closet.
Elisabeth frowned. "Did you get lost?"
Alicia grinned in a way that Elisabeth felt she should've known the meaning of. "Nope." She sauntered closer, and Elisabeth noticed her hair shone dimly – it must have started to rain outside. "I thought we could do something more fun than drink coffee. We've barely seen each other this week."
Elisabeth's sleepy brain finally caught on as Alicia quirked an eyebrow suggestively. "No", she protested. "Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
Alicia didn't lose her good-humored expression even when she crossed her arms under her breasts. Elisabeth shook her head to avert her treacherous eyes that had been drawn in by the action.
"I'm at work", she said. The shock of such a suggestion was fading off, replaced by a hint of regret creeping into her tone. She didn't try to cover it up.
"You'd find it perfectly acceptable to take a coffee break. What's the difference?"
"Coffee and sex are completely different things!"
"What's the purpose of a coffee break?" Alicia asked pointedly.
Elisabeth bit her lip, refusing to answer. She was afraid to see the logic Alicia was bound to have in her argument. The idea was tempting enough on its own; she couldn't have it be plausible if she wanted to retain any chance of rejecting it.
Alicia, most likely not having expected Elisabeth to answer, continued smoothly. "It gives you a chance to relax and get your mind off of work. Caffeine gives you energy. The walk to the coffee maker gives you an opportunity to stretch your legs, or alternatively, sitting down with your cup gives you a chance to rest your legs. A coffee date gives you an opportunity to see your girlfriend." Alicia smirked, counting with her fingers, "So, relaxation, energy, exercise, and the company of yours truly. Which of those are you disputing?"
Elisabeth huffed, cursing the faint shudder that ran through her. Forced to concede to the points made, she leaned in to give Alicia a peck to hide the involuntary twitch of her lips. "You're exasperating."
"I'm also right", Alicia retorted. She pulled back only far enough to catch Elisabeth's eye, her whisper tickling the latter's ear. "Fifteen minutes. Give me fifteen minutes, Elisabeth."
Elisabeth mulled the proposition over. Fifteen minutes. Could it be done? She tilted her head to the side, eyes fluttering shut in thought (it had nothing to do with the fact that Alicia was trailing wet kisses along her throat. The closet was small, so it was only natural that Elisabeth pressed herself closer as Alicia's hands snaked up and down her sides and back.). It would be so easy to forget herself. She hadn't yet had a break since coming in that evening. And Alicia was right. They had been incredibly busy the past couple of days, their respective schedules full and not even overlapping; whenever Elisabeth had managed to get home for a nap and a change of clothes, Alicia hadn't been there. They were long overdue for a moment for themselves. Would a quick hookup with her wonderful, gorgeous girlfriend really be that wrong?
The warmth of Alicia's fingers as they found their way under Elisabeth's shirt shook the latter back to her senses. When had the last temp check for the six-year-old girl with flu who'd come in that afternoon been?
Elisabeth pulled back, looking down at the hand with which she was feebly pushing Alicia back. "Alicia…"
"Hey, hey, Elisabeth", Alicia nudged her chin up. "If you truly don't feel comfortable, I'll be more than happy to get out of here and buy you a real, one-hundred-precent innocent cup of coffee. Whatever you want; it's your call. But I promise you, I've scouted the route of the night guard, I locked the door, and there's no emergency. No one will come looking for you."
The honesty in Alicia's eyes broke the remnants of Elisabeth's resolve. They deserved a break. Her pager was on, and Alicia had sworn the soldier making rounds during the night wouldn't come around their little closet at least for the next fifteen minutes. Elisabeth was touched, if not exactly surprised, by Alicia's military approach to a plan of seducing her in a linen closet.
She should not have found it so hot.
"Okay", Elisabeth breathed. She fisted her hand in the lapel of Alicia's jacket and pulled. "Come here."
She didn't know if the hum of pleasure Alicia made as their mouths locked was a cry of victory or caused by her teeth grazing the woman's lower lip, nor did she care. She rose to her tiptoes to free Alicia's hair from the ponytail more easily. The damp strands stuck in place, so Elisabeth massaged her fingers into Alicia's scalp, coaxing another moan. She'd been looking for leverage, but the reminder of the long, rainy night awaiting her devoted soldier made Elisabeth reconsider how much of a fight to put up.
Alicia bucked her hips against Elisabeth's while her hand returned to where it had rested on Elisabeth's stomach, playful fingers creeping upwards until she was cupping her breast. The shiver that the touch sent through Elisabeth transformed into a whimper when Alicia dislodged her lips from Elisabeth's own for a quick gulp of air.
Eager to replace the contact she'd just lost, Elisabeth moved to press kisses along Alicia's jaw. The smell of petrichor flittered from Alicia's clothes and hair and filled her nose. Elisabeth paused to savor it. As much as Alicia complained about rain – it made the landscape muddy and her job so much messier – she knew they both loved it. It was a reminder of their new start, both to Alicia who had spent large parts of her life in the desert, and to Elisabeth, to whom acid rains had been an everyday catastrophe in Chicago.
She still had a fistful of Alicia's hair, and a little tug earned her a better angle as well as a vocal confirmation that she'd found the sweet spot she'd been looking for. Alicia returned the favor by pinching a nipple between her fingers. The rush of blood was steadily getting louder in Elisabeth's ears, matching the pulsation between her legs.
Elisabeth followed the curve of Alicia's clavicle with her tongue, skipping over the familiar tags around her neck as she continued down along the sternum. The growing heat burning her skin was further fueled by the poor ventilation of the undersized closet and Alicia's breath hitting her cheek. The fingers that had been fondling Elisabeth's behind fumbled towards the waistband of her scrubs. Instead of tugging them down as Elisabeth had expected her to, Alicia slipped her hand inside. A teasing stroke had Elisabeth's heart skip a beat, her nails surely leaving scratch marks on Alicia's lower back as her whole body jolted.
Alicia sniggered, stealing a sloppy kiss. "Take them off?" she murmured.
Elisabeth toed her shoes off but kept her hold of Alicia's waist. Her thumbs were drawing soothing circles over the raised strips of skin she'd created. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Is there time for-"
"It's fine", Alicia interrupted her. "Let me take care of you."
Normally, Elisabeth would have argued, but they were on stolen time, and she didn't want to waste any of it. Alicia had dropped in unannounced and lured her into the linen closet that would be safe at the current hour of the day; clearly, she'd planned to prioritize Elisabeth's pleasure, too.
The surge of warmth in her chest drove Elisabeth to strip out of her scrub bottoms with haste. She vowed to come up with an appropriate retaliation-slash-thank-you as soon as their schedules eased up. For now, she would only make sure Alicia sensed her appreciation.
Since Alicia hadn't moved to relieve Elisabeth of the rest of her clothing, Elisabeth decided it was her turn and pushed Alicia's leather jacket off her shoulders before reaching for the hem of her black tank. "If my shirt stays on, yours definitely comes off."
Alicia lifted her arms to help Elisabeth pull the top over her head. Once clad in only her sports bra, she gave Elisabeth a tender look. "You know you don't have to keep it on. And you don't need to keep your coat on, either."
Elisabeth thought about it for a second. She loved that Alicia was once again offering her a way out and making sure her professional ethics stayed intact, but she could also see the hunger in Alicia's darkened eyes. Elisabeth knew what Alicia hoped – and truthfully, the image of her bare legs against her white coat didn't leave Elisabeth unaffected, either.
"It's fine", she said, her stomach lurching deliciously at the decision. "I'll need to change afterwards, but it's okay; I'll just spill some coffee on it and throw it in the bin."
Alicia chuckled, the throaty quality that had been introduced to the sound flooding Elisabeth with anticipation. She let Alicia push her back and urge her onto an empty shelf she hadn't noticed before.
As Alicia lowered herself to her knees in front of her, Elisabeth fought to keep her eyes open to take in the sight. As well as their faux coffee date had gone so far, she wasn't convinced that they could keep disappearing into linen closets at the infirmary. She'd been more adventurous when she'd been younger – nearly gotten arrested for public indecency and breaking-and-entering in college – but the responsibilities that had come with motherhood and excelling at her job had toned down the spontaneity of youth. So, just in case it was the first and last time they had such an opportunity, she wanted to etch the memory into her mind forever.
The hecticness of her days and the lack of quality time with Alicia had left Elisabeth neglected, so it didn't take long for the familiar pressure to build up in the pit of her stomach. She leaned back, removing her right hand from Alicia's hair so she could use both of them for balance. She barely noticed the ends of the shelf digging into her back as her eyes closed on their own accord and the air in her lungs got thinner and thinner. Biting her lip to keep herself quiet despite the growing need to moan, Elisabeth summoned the coherency to hastily tell Alicia to kiss her. Alicia obeyed swiftly, expertly moving her thumb to cover for her tongue as she continued to push Elisabeth over the edge. Some trivial, disconnected part of Elisabeth's brain registered Alicia's smile against her mouth, but she was too busy crying out the ecstasy crashing into her to care.
Elisabeth wasn't aware of having done it, but at some point, she must have sat back up again since when her breathing had evened out and her sense returned, she opened her eyes to find her forehead resting on Alicia's shoulder.
She pressed her lips against the bare skin, trying to find the words for the sentence she wanted to form. "That was…"
Alicia chuckled into her hair proudly. "I needed to do my best. I wouldn't want you actually preferring a cup of coffee to me."'
Elisabeth hummed, as if in thought. "You do share some characteristics. Invigorating, full-bodied, hot…"
"I was thinking more along the lines of dark and bitter."
"Sweet", Elisabeth countered immediately, looking up, "and addictive." Placing her hands on both sides of Alicia's face, she kissed her girlfriend deeply, hoping to show how much she appreciated her, not just for the past quarter of an hour but for everything she did and was. She could tell her, but words usually made Alicia uncomfortable, so Elisabeth resorted to communicating with actions.
Disgruntled with the fact that they couldn't linger, Elisabeth sealed her thanks with one more light kiss before hopping down from the shelf. They took a second to gather the discarded items of clothing and dress themselves. While Alicia pulled her hair back into a ponytail and slipped into her jacket, Elisabeth checked her pager, relieved to find it without notification. Having deemed herself presentable, she was inspecting the room for anything out of order when Alicia thrust something hard into her hand.
"What's this?"
Alicia grinned. "Evidence."
Elisabeth looked down at what she realized was a cup of coffee, blinking in surprise. She had no idea where Alicia had gotten it; she must've had it with her all along, even if she hadn't noticed. Or she'd put it in place ahead of time. Even though the cup was a thermos, she hadn't expected the liquid to still be lukewarm as she took a curious sip.
Alicia checked her comm and watch. "14 minutes, 40 seconds", she announced with the smuggest smile. "I should go; I need to relieve Reynolds from watch duty. I'll see you tomorrow?"
Elisabeth nodded, unable to speak with her mouth full. As Alicia turned to leave, however, Elisabeth hurried to swallow and called out for her to wait.
Alicia halted with her hand on the doorknob and a question in her eyes. With no further explanation, Elisabeth crossed the room and kissed her. The ajar door clicked shut again as Alicia stumbled half a step backwards and collided with it. Elisabeth slid her tongue mischievously along Alicia's upper and lower lip before conceding to Alicia's domination in a non-verbal admission of "you told me so".
Light-headed with pleasure but reluctantly still aware of the time, Elisabeth was the first to step back. She smiled widely at the dazed look on Alicia's face, feeling only a little bad to have teased her in order to make their cover story foolproof when Alicia had already been left wanting.
Alicia didn't seem to mind, though, and Elisabeth leaned in for one last peck, grinning. "Now you taste like coffee too."